


Buddy System

by BastardBin



Series: Winged Grian AU [2]
Category: Hermitcraft, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Grian's a winged badass, Hermitcraft - Freeform, Kinda, Video Game Mechanics, and is here to save Rendog from his mistakes, grian literally fights the void, winged Grian au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 15:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20010727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastardBin/pseuds/BastardBin
Summary: There's a reason the Hermits employ the use of the buddy system when they go End busting, and when a stray Ender pearl spells certain doom for Rendog, he's about to learn why exactly that is.Inspired by Rendog's episode 71/ Grian's episode 63





	Buddy System

**Author's Note:**

> i remember when i watched grian's episode and rendog yeeted a pearl into the void and was like "grian i threw a pearl hold me save me man" my brain just  
> instantly went  
> "yeah lets write that"

Ren should have known from the start that it was all going to go horribly wrong.

From the instant he stepped into the End, the fact that the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the offended glare of an Enderman should have been his first warning. But it was fine, he said; it was just one, it was a fluke, the rest of the trip would be uphill from there. After all, he didn’t want to back out, especially not when Grian had invited him out on a friendly excursion when the two already rarely hung out.

And it wasn’t like he felt particularly unsafe, anyway. Even as he ducked away from the angry mob under an overhang where it couldn’t reach him, Grian barely batted an eye before coming up from behind and running it through with his sword. As it fell to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke, Grian deftly flicked his sword free of any remaining End-guck and sheathed it again behind his back, offering Ren a friendly smile all the while.

Yeah, he felt fine. He even joked that with “G-daddy” here to protect him, he’d be safe. Grian just laughed, and led the way on. It was going to be fine.

That’s what he kept telling himself.

The second red flag should have been the way he kept slipping up, the way he kept tripping over his own feet or looking up when he shouldn’t have. Endermen were everywhere, and more often than not, he found his ears filled with the sound of static just before one would appear behind him. There wasn’t anything else quite like turning around slowly, knowing it was there, but still feeling a chill as the sight of a gaping unhinged jaw with rows upon rows of nightmarish teeth came into focus, and behind which was emanating the sound of a static voice. No matter how many times it happened, Ren couldn’t help but freeze; and every single time, he was saved with a wave of relief as a diamond sword appeared from the center of the monster’s chest.

If he’d come alone today, he’d have died a dozen times already. Grian kept it light, joking that Ren needed to stop looking all over the place, but he could see the thinly veiled concern under the jokes. It wasn’t just him, then; Grian could see that he was off his game too.

But he still didn’t want to back out. They both had things to do, they were here for a reason, and Ren would much rather be here with the builder to have his back than to come back alone later. So they pressed on; Grian hesitantly, and Ren with a stubborn determination.

The last chance he had to back out was the crashing feeling of absolute _dread_ that swamped him as their last End city came into sight. Grian suggested going home after this one, and with the inescapable panic rising in his chest, Ren was inclined to finally agree. He was too stubborn to give up before they’d looted it, though, even as walking through each room gave him an ever increasingly _off_ feeling.

He joked about it to Grian. But that’s all it was; a joke. The awful feeling coursing through his veins, and instead of listening to it and backing out while he could, all he did was joke.

Then it all went wrong, and he had no more chances to prevent it.

* * *

Grian could tell Ren was off his game today.

Ever since the first Enderman cornered him the instant they arrived, he’d jumped at every sound, nearly jumped out of his skin when obviously placed Shulkers popped out of their shells at him. And it wasn’t like Grian hadn’t tried to convince him they should throw in the towel, and go home early; Ren was having none of it, despite _something_ having him on edge. And the builder couldn’t really force him to leave if he didn’t want to, for some reason, so he settled for at least sticking by his side with a sword at the ready.

More than once, it was the only thing that saved him from getting eaten by the creatures of the End. But Grian wasn’t going to mention it, wasn’t going to tease him. Where normally the Hermits would pick on each other about nearly anything at any chance, he had a feeling today wasn’t the time or place to tease Ren about whatever was up with him.

Maybe he should have said something, though. Maybe it might’ve prevented the turn it all ended up taking.

They were so close to being done, so close to splitting the spoils and leading each other home. The final End city where Grian finally convinced Ren they should quit after, and they were so close to being finished with it. But the big mistake, on Grian’s part, was letting the two of them split up to cover more ground in less time. He thought it would help them get out sooner, back in the air and toward home, so that Ren could finally relax. But that wasn’t how it went.

His cue that something had gone wrong, yet again, was the startled shout from the other side of the city. This time, though, Grian wasn’t by Ren’s side to help him fight it off, and he hoped the other Hermit could handle himself long enough for the builder’s levitation to wear off. He’d go to him now, if he could, but the Shulker just out of reach pinning him to the ceiling was making it a little bit difficult to do so.

These were the moments where he realized he _really_ needed to start carrying a bow.

Eventually though, he was able to twist his body and stand against the ceiling, effectively giving himself enough reach to stab the Shulker on the floor. Then it was just a mere few seconds before the levitation effect ran out, and Grian crashed face-first into the mocking purple blocks below. 

He was dazed for a moment, and sat in a heap waiting for the walls to stop spinning. That was when Ren shouted again, though, notably more panicked than before, and Grian scrambled to his feet and off the nearby balcony.

Flying around the city didn’t show him much at first, until he spotted Ren frantically tossing Ender pearls over the end stone of the island. It shouldn’t have been that odd, especially to him, considering he was the type to throw tridents into walls to open secret passages and run around in a chicken costume. But there was something about the way Ren was flinging them in a panic, and combined with the way he’d been off his game all day, something had to be wrong. Worried, Grian lighted down beside him.

As soon as Ren took notice of him, he collapsed right into the builder, who then had to adjust his weight to hold Ren up. But the other Hermit was also clinging, holding onto Grian’s arms a bit too tight, and he was talking faster than he could keep up. “You’ve gotta help me man, what do I do, what do I do?!”

“What’s wrong, what happened?” Grian tried, holding him back almost as tight, though just shy of being painful. Ren was trembling in his grip, and his heart continued sinking. This wasn’t like him.

“I, I--” Ren’s voice caught, and he finally looked up. He looked _terrified._ “G, I- I threw an Ender pearl into the void.”

Oh, _no._

It wasn’t like Ren wouldn’t respawn, or that he’d be gone for good if he died in the void; but it was arguably one of the worst ways to die. It felt like suffocating and being torn apart limb by limb all at once, and it always took anywhere from a few hours to several days for the person unfortunate enough to fall in to finally respawn again. When they did, there was a chance they’d have forgotten up to weeks of their recent memory.

So Ren _would_ come back - eventually, and not without suffering and some lasting damage, if he were to be teleported in with no way to escape. And an Elytra was definitely no way to get out; the void had such a strong pull once someone fell far enough down that they didn’t have enough power even with rockets to escape it. And beside that, there was no way to cancel an Ender pearl once it was thrown, and nothing could hold Ren here from its grip once it dragged him down with it.

And it was all Grian’s fault. It was his idea to come End busting today, after all. Guilt dug its claws into him and twisted, and he winced, holding Ren tighter. “It’s okay, it’s-- just hold onto me.”

“It won’t do any good. I’m done for.” Ren lamented, sliding to the ground and pulling Grian with him. “You’ve gotta-- you have to take my stuff.”

Shaking his head, he pulled the other Hermit closer, burying his face against Ren’s shoulder. There had to be something he could do; he’d made Ren come down here with him, forced him to be the other half of his buddy system today to up the odds of his own safety. It was entirely on him that the other Hermit was in this situation right now, and he’d do anything to prevent him from losing the next several weeks of his life just because Grian decided to drag him into this. “I’m not letting you die, Ren.”

“G, you can’t exactly fight the void.” Ren tried to joke, though his hands were still shaking. “Just take my stuff so at least I don’t lose everything.”

Grian hesitated. He knew Ren was right, that there wasn’t anything he could do to change this now, and it was better that he at least save his things so he would still have those when he did respawn. But letting him leave everything felt like accepting it, like he would just be willingly giving his friend up to the death he’d accidentally lured him into, and he couldn’t bring himself to move.

And then, it was too late.

In an instant, all of the weight pulling him to the ground, and the death grip on his arms, vanished in the breeze. Ren didn’t even have time to make a sound before he disappeared, teleported who knows where into the ominous void down below.

And Grian, before his rational brain could catch up, moved on instinct and without an ounce of hesitation, flung himself into the darkness after Ren.

It was an awful idea. He knew going after the other was suicide, no matter his intentions, and then they’d both lose all of their stuff and everything they’d spent all the time in here working toward, not to mention all that lost time and memories until they respawned again. But he didn’t care; it was his fault Ren was in here, and it was his fault now again that he hadn’t taken his stuff while he could.

Now, he figured, it was all or nothing. He _refused_ to let Ren die, and if he did, he was going with him. He wasn’t going to let his friend suffer while he got off scot free.

The void was endless. It was dark and cold, and Grian had never particularly liked it. Even in the overworld, safely standing on bedrock, the particles from the void would still float up through the blocks. It always gave him an eerie feeling he didn’t like, knowing it was so deadly and so close. This time was no different; every instinct was screaming to pull up and fly away while he could, to get away from this vast nothingness, but he pressed on.

He didn’t normally use rockets, but kept them on hand just in case. Now, he used them to fly faster and faster downward, speeding down into the deadly darkness. The air grew thin, and it felt like gravity increased the further down he got, making it harder and harder to lift his wings for another beat each time. Around him, the particles grew thicker, signalling he wasn’t far from the point where he would start taking damage from his environment.

Just as he was sure he’d never spot Ren before dying himself, he was proven wrong by a glimmer of shining blue. Though he didn’t need any more gravity or speed to fight against, Grian set off several rockets at once and sped through the atmosphere like lightning. As Ren came into sight, it was clear he wasn’t fighting, and had either long passed out or accepted his fate, his whole body limp as he fell.

Unhindered and at beyond his actual top speed, Grian crashed into Ren with a startling amount of force and grabbed him without hesitation. Ren seemingly jumped out of his skin, jerking away from the sudden impact. “G-- Grian?!” He shouted, though his voice was nearly instantly carried away by the nonexistent breeze.

Not bothering to reply, Grian focused on switching gears and trying to escape. He didn’t have a lot of rockets left, and wasn’t sure they’d do much good anyway; they’d reached what should have been the point of no turning back. The particles were concerningly thick, like some sort of half-existing smog, while the air was so thin he could feel his chest burning and head spinning. After another half second, a sharp pain arced through his body, and Ren jolted in a similar way.

“Grian, you can’t--” Whatever Ren was trying to say was drowned out by rockets, the frantic wingbeats, and the strange way sound seemed to behave down here. It was like the laws of reality twisted, eating light and sound alike when they came this far down.

Another spike of pain, and the builder could _feel_ his health decreasing, along with the growing soreness in his wings as he fought with everything he had against the tug of the void’s pull. It was so unbelievably powerful, so much more than he’d expected, that even the rockets felt like they did nothing. But he didn’t give up, didn’t stop flapping as hard as he could and drawing higher inch by impossible inch.

His whole body felt weak, weaker with each spike of damage the void crushed into him. Ren seemed to be on a thin line between consciousness, and Grian wasn’t much better off. His chest burning from the exertion combined with lack of air, his overworked wings starting to feel like jelly and each beat feeling like it would be the last before they stopped responding to his commands, and the dizziness in his head having turned to a pounding headache all compounded together. This is what it felt like to challenge the void.

But the particles had thinned, and each jab of pain felt like it was less powerful than the last. He was making progress; slow, and painful, but progress nonetheless. In his arms, Ren took a deeper breath in the slightly thickening air, and swayed further into consciousness. They were making it out; but with his continually sinking health, and increasingly weak wings, Grian wasn’t sure he could get them all the way to safety before either they died or his strength gave out.

However, Ren, in his increasing awareness due to the growing oxygen, seemed to put all of this together. He shifted in Grian’s grip, digging around in his pack, though the movement sent panic through the winged builder. Then before he could see what Ren had grabbed from his inventory, the other Hermit swung his arm around and smashed a suspiciously pink splash potion over the both of them.

Their health began ticking back up, refilling itself thanks to the potion. It didn’t touch Grian’s wings, since they were a stamina issue over a damage one, but now the fact that Ren was fighting too bolstered his determination. Along with the fact the void couldn’t kill them at this height with full health, though it gave a few more weak jabs at them before the pain ceased. The particles grew thinner and thinner until they disappeared entirely, the air became thick enough they could breath normally, and the darkness gave to light as the Endstone islands came back into view above them. Though his wings felt ready to fall off at any moment, Grian pushed harder, gaining more and more altitude until they shot up and over one of the islands.

Then, finally, he could let go. The builder went limp all at once, allowing the two Hermits to crash and roll to a stop on the solid ground. Tangled in a heap without a care from either, they both stayed collapsed where they landed, gasping to catch their breath from their near-death experience.

Grian, physically, felt _awful_. Now that he’d stopped moving, he wasn’t sure he’d get his wings to move again anytime soon, and the rest of his body felt far beyond sore between the overexertion and oxygen deprivation. But though he couldn’t find the strength to move or speak yet, he was ecstatic. He’d just saved Ren from the void itself. Seemingly having the same thought, Ren shot upright, his face coming into Grian’s vision with an expression of pure awe.

“ _Dude!_ Did that just happen? Did you just _do that?!_ ”

“I think so.” Grian croaked back in a low whisper, too weak yet to be any louder. Ren _beamed_ at him anyway, his grin almost too big for his face.

“You just _did that_ , G! Dude, you’re amazing.” Ren went on, enamoured, until he finally just yanked Grian into a hug. “You’re also an idiot for doing that. But thank you, Grian.”

For just a moment, the builder returned the embrace as best he could, and then just made Ren continue to hold him up. “I’d do it again. But for now, uh… you’re gonna have to carry me home. I can’t feel my wings.” Grian admitted, grimacing. Ren gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

“I got you, man. It’s the least I can do after that badass save.”

Nodding, Grian was grateful it was Ren that he’d brought along. Maybe this is what the End busting buddy system was all about, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> and then they returned with grian in rendogs arms and looked super gay and the others were all like "do we wanna know what happened in there"
> 
> also im tempted to write another JUST to explore rendog having guilt over grian's wings being kinda fucked up and bandaged and he cant fly for awhile after this happens sO if anyone wants that lemme know


End file.
